This invention relates to Microelectromechanical Structure, or MEMS, and the method of fabricating such devices.
Microelectromechanical Structures, or “MEMS” often consist in part, of polycrystalline semiconductor regions that are only partially attached to the underlying material. Such polycrystalline silicon regions, which may be cantilevered, center supported or supported at both ends are hereinafter referred to as “regions”. They are typically formed by depositing polysilicon on a layer of sacrificial material such as a silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, or another dielectric. Often the polysilicon material, either doped or undoped as required by the design, is masked and patterned using a photolithographic process to define the desired structure(s). The underlying sacrificial layer is partially or totally removed, leaving the layer of polysilicon material unsupported except at selected support locations. This sequence of steps allows the fabrication of structures such as beams, which might be supported at one or both ends as well as diaphragms and other shapes and structures that are characterized by only being supported at selected points. In some MEMS, the polysilicon structure that is formed by the removal of the sacrificial layer may not be permanently attached, but may be constrained, allowing it even greater freedom. The use of polysilicon is sufficient in some applications, but the strength of polysilicon and its resistance to crack formation and associated mechanical failure are not as high as those of single crystal materials.
One prior art method for forming these regions involves depositing an etch stop layer of silicon nitride in direct contact with or above the semiconductor material substrate. Next a sacrificial layer of silicon dioxide is deposited on top of the etch stop layer of silicon nitride. A region of polysilicon is then deposited, masked, patterned and etched on the layer of sacrificial material. The underlying sacrificial layer of silicon dioxide is partially or totally removed, leaving the layer of polysilicon material “floating” and unsupported except at some locations.
The mechanical properties of these floating regions may become more important with the continuing miniaturization of integrated circuits. The ever increasing complexity of integrated devices having greater numbers of wiring channels coupled with the desire for packing chips closer together to minimize transmission delays, results in the need for multilayered and high channel density interconnect substrates. Also, with higher interconnect wiring density, the need for using insulators with low dielectric constants becomes more important for performance reasons. Insulators with the low dielectric constants include vacuum, gases such as air, and depending upon the temperature, single crystalline silicon. The present invention is also directed to fabricating interconnect substrates with air as the dielectric in a process which allows the formation of floating single crystal structures.
FIG. 1, to which reference should now be made, illustrates a representation of the sequence of steps used to manufacture the prior art microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices.
Starting with a semiconductor material substrate 12, in FIG. 1a, an etch stop layer 15 of silicon nitride is deposited in direct contact with the substrate, and then a sacrificial layer 1 of silicon dioxide is deposited on top of the etch stop layer 15 of silicon nitride.
Referring to FIG. 1b, A region of polysilicon 4 is then deposited, masked, patterned and etched on the layer of sacrificial material 1.
After the step illustrated in FIG. 1b, as shown in FIG. 1c, the underlying sacrificial layer 1 of silicon dioxide is partially or totally removed which leaves the layer of polysilicon material 4 “floating” and unsupported at some locations 5.
In a related area of art, air bridges are growing in importance with the advancement of speed requirements. An example of air bridges in five (5) layers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,639 dated May 1, 1990, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes “a method of building a multilevel electrical interconnect supported by metal pillars with air as a dielectric. The metal conductors and metal support pillars are formed using a photo-imagible polymer which serves the function of patterning and also provides a temporary support during construction.”
Another useful invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,797 dated Apr. 6, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference, and states that “a process of manufacturing integrated circuits is disclosed for designing and implementing a hierarchical wiring system. The interconnection requirements are sorted and designed into a particular wiring level according to length. Support structures may be constructed to allow more flexibility in designing air bridge dimensions. The support structures may take the form of lateral ribs or intermediate posts, and may be fabricated of either insulating or conductive material. One integrated circuit described is a memory device, such as a dynamic random access memory.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,215 dated Feb. 1, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference, and describes “a microstructure comprising a substrate (1), a patterned structure (beam member) (2) suspended over the substrate (1) with an air-space (4) there between and supporting structure (3) for suspending the patterned structure (2) over the substrate (1). The microstructure is prepared by using a sacrificial layer (7) which is removed to form the space between the substrate (1) and the patterned structure (2) adhered to the sacrificial layer. In the case of using resin as the material of the sacrificial layer, the sacrificial layer can be removed without causing sticking, and an electrode can be provided on the patterned structure. The microstructure can have application as electrostatic actuator, etc., depending on choice of shape and composition.”
The assembly of air bridges require inter-connecting surfaces as shown U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,381 dated May 9, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference and describes “an electronic part having an air-bridge interconnection with a flat air-bridge interconnection body, no interconnection loss, high Q and low power consumption. Also disclosed is a method of manufacturing such electronic parts. The flat air-bridge interconnection body is obtained by conducting two-stage selective plating including selective plating for forming posts on post base electrodes and selective plating for forming the air-bridge interconnection body.”
Thus, it can be shown that there is a need for beams or bridges that are only partially supported. These beams have application in the microelectronical structure art as well as in the air bridge art.